Dutch F1 TV rights situation for 2013

As it looks right now F1 won't be on a free to air channel in The Netherlands in 2013. Although I still haven't seen an official announcement it's very likely Sport 1 bought the rights to F1 with Veronica showing the Canadian, US and Brazilian GPs only.

I'm still undecided on what I'm going to do, but I'm leaning towards watching the races on the BBC and just giving up on watching all the races live. The reason for that is that I don't really want to pay 15 euro's a month for a channel that besides F1 has zero things that interest me. English and German Football? no thanks, Tennis and golf... meh. So for some months it means paying 7,50 euro per race to watch it in my own living room!

It's been a nice streak of 19-20 seasons live but I guess it ends in 2013. I feel sorry for Robin Frijns, Nick de Vries and other Dutch upcoming drivers. Chances of sponsorship are going to be even less now and even if they make it and start winning there are hardly any fellow countrymen to see it!

As it looks right now F1 won't be on a free to air channel in The Netherlands in 2013. Although I still haven't seen an official announcement it's very likely Sport 1 bought the rights to F1 with Veronica showing the Canadian, US and Brazilian GPs only.

I'm still undecided on what I'm going to do, but I'm leaning towards watching the races on the BBC and just giving up on watching all the races live. The reason for that is that I don't really want to pay 15 euro's a month for a channel that besides F1 has zero things that interest me. English and German Football? no thanks, Tennis and gold... meh. So for some months it means paying 7,50 euro per race to watch it in my own living room!

It's been a nice streak of 19-20 seasons live but I guess it ends in 2013. I feel sorry for Robin Frijns, Nick de Vries and other Dutch upcoming drivers. Chances of sponsorship are going to be even less now and even if they make it and start winning there are hardly any fellow countrymen to see it!

So what are your plans other Dutchies?

I am going to watch German RTL (everyone with UPC or Ziggo should be able to see that) and use BBC the times they are live broadcasting (as they have no commercials and better commentators).

Welcome to where we were when F1 moved to SportTV in Portugal in 2007.

I'm not sure the exact figure and can't look it up at the minute, but I think it's 23€/month for us - and there's no live free races at all, and we're a poorer nation with far worse average income.

The only upside is that the channel's actually pretty awesome if you're into football, it's 4 channels actually (+ 1 dedicated Premier League channel in English) and it broadcasts F1, NASCAR, Indycar, NBA, Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, portuguese football, Champions League etc etc.. So if you're into all motorsport and football like me it's value for money but certainly not if you only want to watch F1.

You know what? Perhaps F1 will disappear from my life. I have been following Formula 1 since I was seven or six, when races where only seldom on tv. I read the newspapers, saved clippings... it did not hurt me then. Perhaps a lot of viewers will discover they don't miss it...

The same has happened, actually with soccer in the Netherlands. After soccer went commercial, about 1.5 million of viewers (amongst them yours trutfully) and the funny thing was, when dutch soccer moved from the commmercial tv back to public tv... about half a million viewers did not return. Obviously, they did not miss it. I think, perhaps, I will not miss F1 and move on to other things...

As it looks right now F1 won't be on a free to air channel in The Netherlands in 2013. Although I still haven't seen an official announcement it's very likely Sport 1 bought the rights to F1 with Veronica showing the Canadian, US and Brazilian GPs only.

I'm still undecided on what I'm going to do, but I'm leaning towards watching the races on the BBC and just giving up on watching all the races live. The reason for that is that I don't really want to pay 15 euro's a month for a channel that besides F1 has zero things that interest me. English and German Football? no thanks, Tennis and golf... meh. So for some months it means paying 7,50 euro per race to watch it in my own living room!

It's been a nice streak of 19-20 seasons live but I guess it ends in 2013. I feel sorry for Robin Frijns, Nick de Vries and other Dutch upcoming drivers. Chances of sponsorship are going to be even less now and even if they make it and start winning there are hardly any fellow countrymen to see it!

So what are your plans other Dutchies?

I'm from Estonia and I wanted to say I haven't watched F1 live since 2008. The broadcast has turned also to payTv so paying money for incompetent commentary made here locally with them quoting yesterdays news I have read a long time ago is just plain wrong. We are here doomed to subpar quality thanks to Bernie.

been watching f1 since the early eighties. don't miss a race when it's on. for me, paying to watch it is a step too far. avoiding knowing the result is the key. if you cocoon yourself with call of duty or a blu-ray or something until the bbc extended highlights are on it's fine. returning stupid boxes, jumping through hoops to cancel, hidden charges. then there's the cost. probably £200-250 a year for the ten races the bbc don't show. NAAAAAH.

Don't expect too much from Sport1 you guys. It's not going to be nearly as good as the F1 coverage that Sky offers. Football is Sport1's primary focus. Think it will be just like they are doing with MotoGP now. They'll probably go live 5 minutes prior to qualifying or race.

Still hesitating on what to do. I believe Sport1 offers pay per view as well don't they? At least you can with football matches, so perhaps they will offer races pay per view as well. Just don't fancy watching a race on my computer screen though.

Will probably go for RTL Deutschland for 10 races and watch the other then on BBC. It's a shame that RTL Deutschland doesn't broadcast in HD though, that's a real miss. And of course they have at least two 5 minute ad breaks during a race and several short ad breaks of around 20 seconds.

I am going to watch German RTL (everyone with UPC or Ziggo should be able to see that) and use BBC the times they are live broadcasting (as they have no commercials and better commentators).

I have UPC and (i think) all the channels, but I only have a channel called RTL Television, not RTL 1. Will it be broadcast on this RTL channel? Such a shame it's not free to air, sadly a sign of the times..

I have UPC and (i think) all the channels, but I only have a channel called RTL Television, not RTL 1. Will it be broadcast on this RTL channel? Such a shame it's not free to air, sadly a sign of the times..

That is the right one. I already have a subscription on Sport 1, so I'm really curious to see what they are going to do with F1. Although I'm probably still going to watch the BBC as well. But I agree with you that F1 should be free to air.

So it appears you can order single games/matches to watch via Internet TV for €3,99 or €2,50 if you buy 10 at once.
I have sent them an e-mail with the following questions (no real need to translate, is there?)

BBC and German RTL will be the way to go for me in 2013, but I'll certainly miss Olav Mol... There aren't many narrators out there with the same kind of passion as Olav - anyone who has ever watched Formula 1 on Belgian Canvas, when they still broadcasted the races, will know how much difference the narrator makes.

Personally, I'll consider paying a fee to watch Formula 1 in the future, but only if the channel offers a good F1/motorsport package.

I have UPC and (i think) all the channels, but I only have a channel called RTL Television, not RTL 1. Will it be broadcast on this RTL channel? Such a shame it's not free to air, sadly a sign of the times..

the german RTL channel is simply called RTL... then there are RTL II and Super RTL but the main channel has no number....

Since I think it's useful for people to compare, I also wanted to chime in on what I get here in Sweden.

I pay 25 euros a month for a sport package. Dedicated motorsport channel from which I get, obviously all commercial free, F1 all sessions live, MotoGP all classes and sessions live, GP2 all races live, NASCAR all races live plus a host of other racing and great stuff like F1 classics (the other day there was the 1985 San marino grand prix in its entirety as live).

And this is just the motosport channel. Add to that Football (EPL, CL), NFL, NHL, euroleague basketball and other stuff. All this for the aforementioned 25 euros a month. I'd say that's pretty good value. And there is no way I would go back, I now expect live commercial free coverage of all sessions both in F1 and MotoGp.

Since I think it's useful for people to compare, I also wanted to chime in on what I get here in Sweden.

I pay 25 euros a month for a sport package. Dedicated motorsport channel from which I get, obviously all commercial free, F1 all sessions live, MotoGP all classes and sessions live, GP2 all races live, NASCAR all races live plus a host of other racing and great stuff like F1 classics (the other day there was the 1985 San marino grand prix in its entirety as live).

And this is just the motosport channel. Add to that Football (EPL, CL), NFL, NHL, euroleague basketball and other stuff. All this for the aforementioned 25 euros a month. I'd say that's pretty good value. And there is no way I would go back, I now expect live commercial free coverage of all sessions both in F1 and MotoGp.

It's good value if you're interested in all the other sports.If the only sport you watch is F1, which is the case for many people I think, €15 is a lot for 2 weekends per month.

Not really, I'd say. In the last few years I've often switched to German RTL when Dutch RTL had a commercials-break and I tended to stick with it because the commentary was often calmer and more interesting to listen to.

Not really, I'd say. In the last few years I've often switched to German RTL when Dutch RTL had a commercials-break and I tended to stick with it because the commentary was often calmer and more interesting to listen to.

RTL in general got a bad reputation in germany cause except for F1 they mostly show trash tv.... that might be why some call it unreflected bad

however... I personally like their F1 show, it is in my opinion the best german F1 show, better than Sky in commentary, yes there are commercials but its not that bad (doesnt bother me too much except in the actual moment when it starts)... Danner & Waßer are just the best commentary team and for the practice they got Nick Heidfeld commentating on ntv (which is part of the RTL group)...

König and Lauda are intresting to listen to as well... xD and Kai Ebel is just awesome cause of the way he dresses

here btw an old video where xD the drivers take over the RTL People jobs

Not really, I'd say. In the last few years I've often switched to German RTL when Dutch RTL had a commercials-break and I tended to stick with it because the commentary was often calmer and more interesting to listen to.

Rumours have been going around that F1 will go behind a decoder in The Netherlands in 2013, but all i can find is that there are talks between FOM and Sport1, but no decisions were made. I don't want to miss a race, so does anyone know what the status is? I can't find anything about F1 on the Sport1 website, and haven't found anything elsewhere. Can anyone tell me who will show the races ?

The deal has been signed. Three year deal for Sport1 which will broadcast every practice session, qualifying and race in HD. They will also have special channels dedicated to F1 for things like onboards and stuff.

See the major news websites from Holland for more info. Also, I believe we have a topic somewhere about the Dutch TV rights.

Ok, thanks. Sorry i missed this thread. I guess i'll have to cancel my Eredivisie Live-subscription, and get myself some Sport1. Strange thing is, on the website of Sport1, it says it'll broadcast MotoGP, but nothing about F1. If you try to find out about Formula 1, they re-direct you to your provider. Oh well